The Edmonton Oilers selection of Nail Yakupov No. 1 overall in the 2012 NHL Entry draft remains a story 18 months later. For one reason or another, the Yak City pick hasn't settled in like the Hall and Nuge drafts. The story got a little publicity this morning, and one wonders if we'll be dealing with it for years.

OCTOBER 2013—CONFIRMED

Bob McKenzie confirmed a well known Edmonton rumor in October, tweeting out that the "majority of Edmonton scouts wanted Murray, and the decision to take Yakupov came from a higher authority.

The story came up this morning when I was on the air at TSN 1260, and I wanted to mention it today. The push from media came courtesy Eric Duhatschek:

Lots of people in Edmonton believe that owner Darryl Katz had some significant input into the decision to draft Nail Yakupov first overall in 2012 rather than opt for the safer choice, defenceman Ryan Murray, who would have filled a greater organizational need. With every passing day, that decision looks more and more suspect. Murray was limited to 23 games with the Everett Silvertips last year because of major knee surgery, but even as an NHL rookie, has looked good on the Columbus defence, playing a lot with James Wisniewski and providing the defensive presence on that pair. What if Murray turns out to be Alex Pietrangelo good – and they left him on the table to draft another offensive player, of which they had plenty already? How do you assess blame there? Or maybe they already have, since the GM that called Yakupov’s name, Steve Tambellini, is no longer running the show.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

I find the conversation surprising. Although there's no doubt Nail Yakupov has struggled this season, Mr. Duhatschek's story is the first time "blame" has been mentioned. Presumptive? Certainly, but it's out there now, and should Nail Yakupov not deliver on promise, the scouting staff would appear to be free and clear.

I'd still bet on Yakupov. All day.

In a period where Oilers owner Daryl Katz is taking some heat for his team's won-loss record, perhaps fans need to be reminded that (reportedly) his draft day decisions are very likely to deliver. It remains very risky to take defensemen at #1 overall, and 45 NHL games don't change that at all.

Lowetide has been one of the Oilogosphere's shining lights for over a century. You can check him out here at OilersNation and at lowetide.ca. He is also the host of Lowdown with Lowetide weekday mornings 10-noon on TSN 1260.

Sure Murray would have addressed an organizational need better but I'm confident that Yakupov will be by far the best of that draft class in years to come. Drafting defense and goalies for that matter 1st overall rarely works out.

Deciding that the Oilers should taken Murray based upon how Yakupov and the team is playing today is very short sighted. Sure Murray has looked good this year but a lot of rookies played good in their rookie year only to slump the next year and play average the years after. There is a lot of should of/could of, but the Oilers took the best player as of draft day and within a few years Yakupov will become an elite player. I am sure that the Oilers will draft Ekblad this draft who will become the franchise defenseman they need.

Deciding that the Oilers should taken Murray based upon how Yakupov and the team is playing today is very short sighted. Sure Murray has looked good this year but a lot of rookies played good in their rookie year only to slump the next year and play average the years after. There is a lot of should of/could of, but the Oilers took the best player as of draft day and within a few years Yakupov will become an elite player. I am sure that the Oilers will draft Ekblad this draft who will become the franchise defenseman they need.

The Oilers likely won't get a chance to draft Ekblad I'm afraid.

Ekblad is going 1st or 2nd overall. The Oilers will leapfrog the Flames and possibly a couple of other teams over the rest of the season so it's more likely they pick 3-7th unless they win the lottery.

Many media types cover up their conjecture by using unnamed sources. I find it highly unlikely that anyone within in a professional organization would tip their hands to the media, pointing a finger at their boss. I don't necessarily doubt the opinion of Bob, but I think he "knows" the validity no more than most people. If it came from the other Bob in town I would never doubt the sources. He keeps telling us how plugged in he is, so it must be so.

With 8 hours of Oiler talk on the radio everyday they need content for the airwaves. Whether it is fan discontent with (insert player name here) or trade rumors. Their call-in shows are full of clowns with stupid trade ideas and they paint us all with that brush.

How many players have you and I run out of town? zero. We get blamed with running (insert names here) out of town, but I have never had the pull to chase Comrie, Brewer, Arnott, etc from Edmonton.

If I had that kind of sway old Rubber Boots would have had a can tied to his ass after bungling the Pronger trade so badly.

I like Yak and believe that his ceiling is quite high, but I would have liked to see the Oilers trade that pick down to #3 with Montreal. The Oilers would have gotten a player and Galchenyuk, who would have been the perfect fit. The Oilers probably thought the injury that Alex sustained in junior was too big of a risk. I guess the jury will be out on this for awhile. #Lowemustgo

Someone on the coaching staff needs to teach this kid how to play positional hockey. He is totally lost out there, particularly without the puck.
Even with the puck he is terrible, in that he isnt
using other players on the ice, and trys to be a one man show. Maybe watching Hall to much.

That quote about "the majority of scouts" is not as informative as some people make it out to be.

Who cares what the rank and file want. Those guys just can't accept that they advise the head scout, who advises the GM, who gets to make the decision unless the President or Owner have a strong opinion.

Some regional scout thought that it was a democracy and ended up spouting the pick to a reporter and was shocked when his superiors disagreed.

Ekblad is going 1st or 2nd overall. The Oilers will leapfrog the Flames and possibly a couple of other teams over the rest of the season so it's more likely they pick 3-7th unless they win the lottery.

I don`t think the point here is actually Murray v Yakupov. It is more of Who is making the important decisions on this club.

Did the Oilers need D Help? Yes

Did they need another medium to smallish forward who can score ? No

Is Yak gonna be better or worse than Murray? Time will tell but there is no mistaking that Yak has some serious skills. Just needs to be developed.

The question here is did katz make the pick? His team, so he can do what he wants obviously. However, letting a non hockey owner make hockey decisions is a bad way to run a club. ( I can see 6rings thinking its a good idea though)

Owners rarely make good decisions on personel. See the Cowboys or the Raiders (Al was actually a great GM until he got old and the game evolved). Redskins are horrendous. Yankees were pretty bad until Steinbrenner stopped putting his hand in all the player decisions. Anyone recall Ballard? He made the Leafs and Ticats bad so he scored a double.

I believe Murray would have been a better fit for the needs but I recognize Yaks talent and it is way to early to say what the better call is. Just get someone with Hockey intelligence to make the call is what the fans would like to see.

Yakupov was #1 on all lists. He had great offensive numbers and a game breaking shot.

I don't know why people think Murray was the safe pick. Defensemen are hard to predict and there is historical evidence showing that.

Galchenyuk would've been a risky pick as well. He played 3 games in his draft year. 3 games. We knew Yakupov could score without Galchenyuk, we didn't have evidence of Gally scoring without Yakupov until AFTER the draft.

Yakupov put up excellent offensive numbers in his 2 years in the OHL. The only issue is his use and adjustment to the pro game. He shows flashes of brilliance, I'd be worried if there were no flashes.

I don't understand why fans and bloggers like Lowetide or mc79hockey defend Yakupov and go out of their way to pump his tires.

I find it troubling when even the Russian Olympic team didn't take Yakupov, yet they took apparently inferior KHL players (I guess based on experience), but they also took Valeri Nichushkin (18 years old, so there goes the experience theory). Plus, they can't have any anti Russian bias like great YakCity fan clubs says is the only thing critics have against him.

So if the Russian team and Eakins are seeing the same deficiencies in his game, why is it that fans and bloggers don't give any credence to the theory that maybe, just maybe, he's not as good as hoped? I believe that's a fair question and look forward to the responses that are logical, not just the ones that scream YakCity and say he can shoot a puck real hard.

Yakupov, I tend to think it gives MSM something to write about, and for the most part people become short sighted and fail to see the bigger picture, we’ve seen this before with players like Spezza, Bobby Ryan and even to some extent Duchene.

Its clear Yakupov had trouble adjusting to Eakins style & Eakins handling of Yakupov at times has been questionable but give the kid a couple years before we really judge a 20 year old kid.

I don't understand why fans and bloggers like Lowetide or mc79hockey defend Yakupov and go out of their way to pump his tires.

I find it troubling when even the Russian Olympic team didn't take Yakupov, yet they took apparently inferior KHL players (I guess based on experience), but they also took Valeri Nichushkin (18 years old, so there goes the experience theory). Plus, they can't have any anti Russian bias like great YakCity fan clubs says is the only thing critics have against him.

So if the Russian team and Eakins are seeing the same deficiencies in his game, why is it that fans and bloggers don't give any credence to the theory that maybe, just maybe, he's not as good as hoped? I believe that's a fair question and look forward to the responses that are logical, not just the ones that scream YakCity and say he can shoot a puck real hard.

While you make good points, I also want to point out that it isn't fair to pile on the kid for all of his defensive deficiencies.

When you have TSN pointing out every single one of his mistakes and none of his good attributes I think it is fair for our bloggers to defend the kid.

Example:
Ray Ferraro couldn't even compliment Yakupov on a nice assist that led directly to a goal. He goes "He should've passed it sooner". This wasn't last TSN game, but earlier in the year. If he let the puck go sooner, no goal would've happen.

Should I be upset with the fact that the Oiler brass were debating between Yakupov and Murray when Galchenyuk was the best option from a "need" perspective? How good would he look playing 2C right now?

Ekblad is going 1st or 2nd overall. The Oilers will leapfrog the Flames and possibly a couple of other teams over the rest of the season so it's more likely they pick 3-7th unless they win the lottery.

Exactly my thought. Flames lost Cammy to concusion. Can't score into an ocean. The Jets are in freefall. The Predators refuse to have an offence. The Leafs are lost in the wild. Carlyle will be done in time for the Olympic break. The Panthers may be showing some piss but that is short term. The Oilers will likely finish 25th or 24th.Leon Draistl or the Ritchie kid are more likely to be drafted. BIG and Skilled

Their first 20 games means they won't likely leapfrog many but they will finish ahead of Calgary and Buffalo for sure and they probably only have to be a few games above 0.500 the rest of the way to catch Florida, NYI and Winnipeg.

The only player the Oilers should have strongly looked at taking ahead of Yak that year is Galchenyuk. If he had not been injured and missed a good chunk of that season they likely would have. I would have taken him instead as you can never have enough top two centermen.

Murray is like going to be a #3 d-man in the end that is good at a lot of things but not great. While every team needs players like that, drafting a #3 d-man first overall is a whiff. In the end Murray will likely not be the best d-man in his class either (in fact, Lindholm is oupacing him now).

Yak or Galchenyuk were the only two players to consider at #1 overall that year.

The only player the Oilers should have strongly looked at taking ahead of Yak that year is Galchenyuk. If he had not been injured and missed a good chunk of that season they likely would have. I would have taken him instead as you can never have enough top two centermen.

Murray is like going to be a #3 d-man in the end that is good at a lot of things but not great. While every team needs players like that, drafting a #3 d-man first overall is a whiff. In the end Murray will likely not be the best d-man in his class either (in fact, Lindholm is oupacing him now).

Yak or Galchenyuk were the only two players to consider at #1 overall that year.

The only player the Oilers should have strongly looked at taking ahead of Yak that year is Galchenyuk. If he had not been injured and missed a good chunk of that season they likely would have. I would have taken him instead as you can never have enough top two centermen.

Murray is like going to be a #3 d-man in the end that is good at a lot of things but not great. While every team needs players like that, drafting a #3 d-man first overall is a whiff. In the end Murray will likely not be the best d-man in his class either (in fact, Lindholm is oupacing him now).

Yak or Galchenyuk were the only two players to consider at #1 overall that year.

I'd take #2/3 Dman at #1. For this club, it's exactly what we need. Free agency hasn't been nice.

Infact if the Oilers somehow get 1st over all this year, I'd be pissed if they didn't take Ekblad

The Oilers made another colossal blunder in taking Fail. Murray clearly would have been the better choice. Some of us advocated trading that pick. Now they have added another coach killer who will be an ongoing problem.

Their first 20 games means they won't likely leapfrog many but they will finish ahead of Calgary and Buffalo for sure and they probably only have to be a few games above 0.500 the rest of the way to catch Florida, NYI and Winnipeg.

Even if they draft 3rd Ekblad is off the board.

Seth Jones never ranked below 2nd but was drafted 4th last year. Ebklad is ranked 3rd today by central scouts in mid term ranking. Just saying.

I agree the Calgary will finish last. But I am not so certain that we can finish ahead of Sabres.

Sabres last 10 games was 600 (5-3-2). They are just 4 pts behind the Oilers and have 4 games in hand. The majority of their remaining 38 games will be against weaker Eastern Conference teams. And majority of the remaining 34 Oilers games are against the big strong Western Conference teams. If it is a playoff series between the Oilers and the Sabres, I'll put all my money on the Oilers. But I am not as certain that the Oilers will finish ahead of them. I think it will be a dog fight between the 2.

And Panthers are 6 pts ahead of us and 3 games in hand facing mostly the weaker Eastern Conference. It will be a tall task to catch up to them.

To catch up to the Jets and Preds, we have to play 500 and they play 350 or worse for the rest of the year. Not impossible, but very unlikely.